Earlier text: EXAMINATION OF T. M. PREBLE'S FIRST-DAY SABBATHWords to Christian Mothers
By Ellen G. White
ON THE SUBJECT OF LIFE, HEALTH, AND HAPPINESS.—No. 3. Health is a great blessing, and can be secured only in obedience to natural law. Good health is necessary for the enjoyment of life. A calm, clear brain, and steady nerve, are dependent upon a well-balanced circulation of the blood. In order to have good blood, we must breathe well. Mothers are accountable, in a great degree, for the health and lives of their children, and should become intelligent in regard to laws upon which life and health depend. Their work does not end here. They should carefully educate their children upon this subject, that they may, by obedience to nature’s laws, avoid disease, and secure health and happiness. It is not necessary that all mothers should teach their children all the details of physiology and anatomy. But they should avail themselves of all the means within their reach to give their children instruction relative to the simple principles of hygiene. It is well that physiology is introduced into the common schools as a branch of education. All children should study it. It should be regarded as the basis of all educational effort. And then parents should see to it that practical hygiene be added. This will make their knowledge of physiology of practical benefit. Parents should teach their children by example that health is to be regarded as the chiefest earthly blessing. They cannot do this while the love of money and of display is made of greater consequence than the health of their children. Mental and moral power is dependent upon the physical health. Children should be taught that all pleasures and indulgences are to be sacrificed which will interfere with health. If the children are taught self-denial and self-control, they will be far happier than if allowed to indulge their desires for pleasure and extravagance in dress. The great burden of life with very many is, What shall I eat? What shall I drink? And wherewithal shall I be clothed? Many mothers indulge in pride, and in many things which are hurtful to the health of the body, in order to be in fashion. What deplorable lessons are they giving their children in this respect. They do not, by precept and example, educate their children to practice self-denial as a sacred duty, in order to possess health, serene tempers, goodness, and true beauty. Good health, sound minds, and pure hearts, are not made of the first importance in households. Many parents do not educate their children for usefulness and duty. They are indulged and petted, until self-denial to them becomes almost an impossibility. They are not taught that to make a success of Christian life, the development of sound minds in sound bodies is of the greatest importance. The dear children should be taught to flee every taint of sin. In order to do this, they must separate from the hurtful fashions of the world. It is a sad fact that many, even professed Christians, make their pleasures, their amusements, the gratification of pride in dress, the gratification of appetite, almost everything; while the cross of Jesus Christ, and purity of heart and life, are left out of the question. God has claims upon them, but they do not, by their life, show that they have a sense of their duty to him. They acknowledge the claims of the world in their obedience to fashion. They devote time, service, and money, to its friendship, and, in so doing, prove themselves to be not the true friends of God. He demands of his people the first place in their hearts. He requires their best and holiest affections. The Christian religion invites, urges, and claims self-denial, and the bearing of the cross for Christ’s sake. And the soul’s interest should come first. The world may clamor for our time and affections, fashion may invite our patronage; but the words of the apostle should be enough to lead Christian mothers from the indulgence of pride in dress and demoralizing amusements. “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” “Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” Christian mothers should take their position on the platform of truth and righteousness; and when urged to unite with the world in patronizing fashions which are health-destroying and demoralizing, they should answer, We are doing a great work, and can155 not be diverted from it. We are settling the question of our everlasting destiny. We are seeking to develop in our children, sound and worthy and beautiful characters, that they may bless the world with their influence, and have immortal beauty and glory in the world to come that will never fade. If children had such an example from their parents, it would have a saving influence upon their lives. But it is a lamentable fact, that many professed Christian women, who are mothers, take the lead in patronizing the fashions, and those who make no pretensions to Christianity follow in the footsteps of professed Christians. Some who are in humble circumstances in life, in their efforts to keep pace with fashion, that they may retain their position in fashionable society, endure privation, and work far beyond their strength, that they may dress equal to the example given them by their more wealthy Christian sisters. Unless they can dress somewhat to compare with their more wealthy sisters, they have no desire to attend church, where there is such a display of costly adorning. The contrast is humiliating, say they, and they can only think of their humble dress. The temptation is so strong before some to come up to the standard of fashion that they are sometimes led into dishonesty and theft to gain their desired object. Others sell their virtue, that they may have the means to decorate themselves for display. They see this is the great aim of life with many who profess to be righteous. Professed Christians, whose example thus proves a stumbling-block to their weak sisters, will have a fearful account to meet in the day of final reckoning. They have, by their example, opened a door of temptation to the inexperienced, who are charmed with the respect paid to those dressed in fashionable style, and they became so infatuated that they at last sold honor and virtue, woman’s greatest adornments, and sacrificed health and happiness for artificial decorations for display. I clip the following pointed remarks from the Marshall Statesman, under the caption of Fashionable Ruin: “At a fashionable party in Fifth avenue, New York, a few evenings since, a beautiful young woman turned sharply upon an elderly dowager who was prosing about the Magdalens, and the hopelessness of doing anything for these ‘lost women,’ with the assertion: ‘I know a class more hopelessly lost than they. We fashionables, who murder time and squander money, and lead women to become Magdalens that they may dress like us, why does nobody send missionaries to us?’ The intensity of the utterance was eloquent of better possibilities. No doubt there are more ways than one of being lost. The sirens are not all of one class, or confined to one locality.” The apostle presents the inward adorning, in contrast with the outward, and tells us what the great God values. The outward is corruptible. But the meek and quiet spirit, the development of a beautifully symmetrical character, will never decay. It is an adornment which is not perishable. In the sight of the Creator of everything that is valuable, lovely, and beautiful, it is declared to be of great price. “Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel. But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner, in the old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.” 1 Pet. 3:3–5. It is of the greatest importance that we, as Christian mothers, show, by precept and example, that we are cultivating that which the Monarch of the universe estimates of great value. In doing this, what an influence for good can we have upon our children; and how important we can make our lessons of instruction, that purity and holiness should be the great aim and object of their lives. The following should be read with attention: “Female loveliness never appears to so good advantage as when set off with simplicity of dress. No artist ever decks his angels with towering feathers and gaudy jewelry; and our dear human angels, if they will make good their title to that name, should carefully avoid ornaments, which properly belong to Indian squaws and African princesses. These tinselries may serve to give effect on the stage, on the ball-floor, but in daily life there is no substitute for the charm of simplicity. A vulgar taste is not to be disguised by gold or diamonds. The absence of a true taste and refinement of delicacy cannot be compensated for by the possession of the most princely fortune. Mind measures gold, but gold cannot measure mind. “Through dress the mind may be read, as through the delicate tissues of the lettered page. A modest woman will dress modestly; a really refined and intellectual woman will bear the marks of careful selection and faultless taste.” A great amount of time and money is squandered upon needless adornments. Many inventions have been sought out in extra puffings, tucks, and trimmings, which have a direct tendency to lessen vitality and shorten life. Almost every conceivable style of dress may be seen in crowded cities, and upon the great thoroughfares of travel. There are customs and styles in dress current now, that a few years ago would have been looked upon by Christians as monstrosities. The corsets which are again being generally worn to compress the waist is one of the most serious features in woman’s dress. Health and life are being sacrificed to carry out a fashion that is devoid of real beauty and comfort. The compression of the waist weakens the muscles of the respiratory organs. It hinders the process of digestion. The heart, liver, lungs, spleen, and stomach, are crowded into a small compass, not allowing room for the healthful action of these organs. The following item is clipped from the Herald of Health:— “A female servant died suddenly a short time since in the East. The doctor could not account for the death, and made a post-mortem examination, which showed that the stomach had been reduced to the size of a child’s, and the heart pushed out of its proper place through tight-lacing.” Where tight-lacing is practiced, the lower part of the chest has not room sufficient for action. The breathing, therefore, is confined to the upper portion of the lungs, where there is not sufficient room to carry on the work. But the lower part of the lungs should have the greatest freedom possible. The compression of the waist will not allow free action of the muscles. Alcohol and tobacco pollute the blood of men, and thousands of lives are yearly sacrificed to these poisons. Confinement indoors, shut away from the glorious sunshine, and deprived of the invigorating air of heaven, improper eating, with wrong habits of dressing, corrupt the blood of women. The compression of the waist by tight-lacing prevents the waste matter from being thrown off through its natural channels. The most important of these is the lungs. In order for the lungs to do the work God designed, they must be left free, without the slightest compression. If the lungs are cramped they cannot develop; but their capacity will be diminished, making it impossible to take a sufficient inspiration of air. The abdominal muscles were designed to aid the lungs in their action. Where there is no compression of the lungs, the motion in full breathing will be observed to be mostly of the abdomen. When lacing prevents this, the breathing is restricted to the upper portion of the lungs. Women’s dress should be arranged so loosely upon the person, about the waist, that she can breathe without the least obstruction. Her arms should be left perfectly free, that she may raise them above her head with ease. By lacing, the internal organs of women are crowded out of their positions. There is scarcely a woman that is thoroughly healthy. The majority of women have numerous ailments. Many are troubled with weaknesses of most distressing nature. These fashionably dressed women cannot transmit good constitutions to their children. Some women have naturally small waists. But rather than regard such forms as beautiful, they should be viewed as defective. These wasp waists may have been transmitted to them from their mothers, as the result of their indulgence in the sinful practice of tight-lacing, and in consequence of imperfect breathing. Poor children born of these miserable slaves of fashion have diminished vitality, and are predisposed to take on disease. The impurities retained in the system in consequence of imperfect breathing are transmitted to their offspring. Very many children are born with their blood tainted with scrofula through the wrong habits of the mother in her eating and dressing. The very many miscarriages that now occur may generally be traced to fashionable dress. Lacing causes displacements, and this character of disease is increasing with each successive generation. Many suffer years without making their condition known. They remain in ignorance of the causes of their difficulties, and endure sufferings, which it is impossible for language to express. Not a few women have strength sufficient to carry them through the period of child-bearing. Either her own life or that of her offspring is frequently sacrificed. If both live, she has not been able to give her offspring physical vitality sufficient to withstand accidents and prevailing epidemics. Any trifling cause may put out the feeble flame of existence. And the Christian mother tries to be resigned to her bereavement, which she believes to be in God’s special providence. But could she look back, and trace in her life the true cause, and be convinced that her living and dressing fashionably had put out the life of her child, she might be wise, and repent of her murderous work. The following excellent remarks are from The Household: “The ordinary dress that men wear diminishes their breathing capacity one-fourth; and what woman wears her clothing so loose as that? I call a dress too tight that you hit when you draw in the fullest possible breath. “‘But my waist is naturally slender,’ says one woman. She means that she has inherited small lungs. Her ancestors, more or less of them, compressed their lungs in the same way that we do, and it has become in her case a congenital deformity. This leads us to one of the worst aspects in the whole matter—the transmitted results of indulgence in this deadly vice. And it shows itself in diminished vitality and in liability to take on disease of many kinds. A mother may even make her child scrofulous by her imperfect breathing during the period of gestation, and many a mother does so. Almost all the reading public, very possibly all whose eyes fall upon these lines, have been told again and again how the tightness of the clothing about the waist and abdomen (please remember my definition of tightness) displaces the yielding viscera within, pressing them upward upon the lungs and downward upon the pelvis, and produces directly or indirectly all the female complaints to which the generation is so largely subject. One medical writer declares that ‘this influence upon the organs in the lower part of the abdomen is so great that it furnishes to the medical profession nearly half its business,’ notwithstanding the fact that many women and young girls from native delicacy keep their sufferings to themselves. The very list of these complaints is alarming, and there is no question but the public at large, and even women themselves, have very little idea how much they suffer in this way from the effects of tight dress. “‘Of course, in this form it does not end with the individual, unless she dies before marriage, or so utterly disables herself that she cannot bear children at all, which is not unfrequently the case. If not quite so bad as that, she is still often unable to complete her time, and the little one falls out of being from sheer lack of the vitality which the mother has not been able to give it. She cannot take nearly breath for one, much less for two. A large proportion of the alarming number of miscarriages in respectable society is directly due to tight dressing. I met a lady a few days since who would have been a beautiful and queenly woman but for this deformity (her waist was less than half the circumference of her shoulders), and I was not at all surprised to learn that a few months before she had come within a few minutes of death from this cause. “‘In many cases where the child lives, it drags out a feeble existence, ready to be snatched away by any trifling accident, and the mother piously tries to be “resigned to the will of Providence.” She never dreams that it was through any fault of hers. “I am perfectly healthy,” said such a childless mother to me once, and then she went on with a list of the untoward circumstances that took away one little innocent after another, without a suspicion of the truth that if she had been “perfectly healthy” she would have been able to give each child such vitality that it would have brushed aside these accidents as trifles lighter than air. I do not say that all such troubles arise from tight dressing, but I do say that so far as mothers are concerned, it is far the most prolific source of them. “‘And this sort of thing will go on, I suppose, until our women acquaint themselves with practical physiology, so as to get some idea what it means to be “perfectly healthy.” It will be absolutely necessary, too, in order to make them comprehend intelligently the mischief of tight dress, that they should know something about the individuality of the organs within, and the importance of keeping them in their right places.’” Says the Western Rural: “I saw a young lady, not long since, dressed for a party. Her waist was incased in corsets, laced so tightly that she was absolutely deformed, still it wasn’t tight (of course not; it would be absurd to imagine it was); and for fear of looking stout, she wore one thin skirt only. On remarking it, she demanded to know if one hadn’t a right to lace if she pleased. No, said I, emphatically, one has no right to entail misery upon her offspring, nor commit suicide, and then unjustly accuse the Lord of taking them out of the world. “But what is the use of talking? Ignorance and folly go hand in hand, and stronger brains are wanted before we can hope for reform. The day after the party, the young lady mentioned was forced to wear her dress several inches looser than usual, was unable to take a full inspiration without experiencing a sharp pain in her side, and endured the torture throughout the day from pain in the chest; and I suppose the heroism which enabled her to endure it was sublime.” While on a tour west, we spent some hours in Chicago, at the Massasoit House. Several young ladies waited upon the table, and all of them were deformed by tight lacing. My husband’s hands could have spanned their waists. Their shoulders were broad, their hips were large. The artificial paddings over the chest, and the large appendages upon the back of the head, and upon the small of the back, made these girls appear anything but attractive. Their faces were pale, and they moved about languidly. There was nothing like sprightliness or gracefulness in their movements. Their vital organs were pressed in so small a compass that it was impossible for them to fill their lungs. They could not breathe naturally. They could only gasp. They could not walk naturally and gracefully. They wriggled in their walk, as though every step required an effort. Thought I, this is one of Dame Fashion’s tortures. And these poor girls adopt her inventions, although in so doing they appeared like fools going to the correction of stocks. Read what Good Health says of “Among the causes which prevent muscular exercise, the compression of the chest by corsets is the most remarkable. Where on the earth, or under the earth, or in the waters, or in the air, in things animate or inanimate, this fashion found its original model, unless it be in the venomous wasp, it would be hard to discover. Tradition insists that corsets were invented by a butcher of the thirteenth century, as a punishment for his wife. Finding nothing to stop her loquacity, he put a pair of stays on her to take away her breath, and so prevent her from going about and talking. This effectual punishment was inflicted by other cruel husbands, till at last there was scarcely a wife in all London who was not tied up in this manner. The punishment became so universal at last, that the ladies, in their defense, made a fashion of it, and so it has continued to the present time. The form given by corsets to the female chest is directly opposed to Grecian and Roman models of beauty.”—Health Reformer. Many Ways of Denying Christ.
BISHOP HEBER said: “It is a poor mistake to suppose that there can be no apostasy from Christ where we are not absolutely called on to deny his name, or to burn incense to an idol. We deny our Lord whenever, like Demas, we, through love of this present world, forsake the course of duty which Christ has plainly pointed out to us. We deny our Lord whenever we lend the sanction of our countenance, our praise, or even our silence, to measures or opinions which may be popular or fashionable, but which we ourselves believe to be sinful in themselves or tending to sin. We deny our Lord whenever we forsake a good man in affliction, and refuse to give countenance, encouragement, and support to those who, for God’s sake and the faithful discharge of their duty, are exposed to persecution and slander.” Kind words are as refreshing to the burdened heart as rain to the parched ground. Like Master, Like Servant
Christ's heart was always in Heaven while he was on earth, and everything came forth to him in all the savor of the Father's love. He was of one heart and one mind with the Father. I want to be like Christ; I want the world to say, “Like Master, like servant.” The present object of the Lord Jesus is to have a people who shall display him in their ways, thoughts, and doings—speaking out intelligently and practically what he is. Frank Explanations Preserve Friendship
I AM for frank explanations with friends, in case of affronts. They sometimes save a perishing friendship, and even place it on a firmer basis than at first; but secret discontentment always ends badly.—Sydney Smith. The United States in the Light of Prophecy.
By Uriah Smith
CHAPTER III.—LOCATION OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST.
Following the leopard, or papal beast of Rev. 13, in consecutive order, comes the two-horned beast, whose appearance the prophet delineates, and whose work he describes, in the following language: Verse 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb; and he spake as a dragon. 12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14. and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; 17. and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. These few verses, with an allusion to the same power under the name of “the false prophet” in Rev. 16: 13, and 19: 20, furnish all the testimony we have respecting the two-horned beast; but brief as it is, it gives sufficient data for a very certain application of the symbol in question. As an example of the world of meaning which prophecy can condense into a single word, the first verse of the foregoing quotation may be instanced. Here within a compass of twenty-five words, only four of which are words of more than one syllable, six grand points are made, which taken together are sufficient to determine accurately the application of this symbol. The prophet says first that it is “another beast;” secondly, that when his attention was turned to it, it was “coming up;” thirdly, that it came up “out of the earth;” fourthly, that it had “two horns;” fifthly, that these horns were like those of “a lamb;” and sixthly that it spoke, and by speaking revealed its true character; for the voice was that of “a dragon.” The two-horned beast then is “another beast,” in addition to, and different from, the papal beast which the prophet had just had under consideration; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from that which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls “another beast” is certainly no part of the first beast; and the power symbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is covered by that beast. This is fatal to the claim of those, who, to avoid the application of this symbol to our own government, say that it denotes some phase of the papacy; for in that case it would be a part of the preceding, or leopard beast. To avoid this difficulty it is claimed that the two-horned beast represents the religious or ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the civil, power of Rome under papal rule; that these symbols correspond to the beast and woman in Rev. 17, thus one representing the civil power, the other the ecclesiastical. But this claim also falls to the ground just as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents the religious as well as the civil element of that power. And nothing is easier than to show this. Take the first symbol, the dragon. What does it represent? Rome. But this is not enough; for Rome has presented two great phases to the world, and the inquirer wants to know which one is intended by this symbol. The answer then is Pagan Rome; but just as soon as we add, “Pagan,” we introduce a religious element; for paganism is one of the mightiest systems of false religion ever devised by the arch-enemy of truth. It was, then, the religious element in the empire that determined what symbol should be used to represent it; and the dragon represented Rome while under the control of a particular form of religion. But the time comes when another symbol is introduced upon the scene—the leopard beast arises out of the sea. What power is symbolized by this? The answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbolized Rome, and why not let that symbol continue to represent it? Whoever attempts to answer this question must say that it is because a change had taken place in that power. What change? Two kinds of changes are conspicuous in the history of Rome: changes in form of government, and a change in religion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government; for the seven different forms of government that Rome successively assumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon, and the seven heads of the leopard beast. The religious change must therefore be alone denoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and Christianity coalesced, and the mongrel production was the papacy; and this new religion and this alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. Every candid mind must assent to this; and this assent is a proclamation of the utter absurdity of trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. So far from its representing the civil power alone, it is to the ecclesiastical element that it owes its very existence. That the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as well as civil power is further shown in the arguments already presented to prove that this beast is identical with the little horn of Daniel’s fourth beast, which symbolizes the papacy in all its component parts and through all its history. It is the leopard beast alone that is identical with this little horn, not the leopard beast and two-horned beast taken together. Again, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy. The dragon gave its seat to the leopard beast. If it takes both the leopard beast and two-horned beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should have said that the dragon gave his seat and power to these two beasts combined. The fact that his transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof positive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy in its entirety. When, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast “another beast,” it is certain that he does not mean any particular phase, or any part, of the papal power. It is claimed by others that the two-horned beast represents England, by still others France, and by some Russia, &c. The first, among many other fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the territory occupied by all these powers is already appropriated by preceding symbols. If the two-horned beast symbolized any of these, it would be a part of other beasts instead of “another beast,” separate and distinct from all the rest. It is a law of symbols that each one occupies territory peculiarly its own; that is, the territory which constituted the original government, was no part of that which had been occupied by the previous powers. Thus Medo-Persia rose on territory not occupied by Babylon; and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all that portion of Asia known to ancient civilization. The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom arose to the west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far as it was then known to the ancients. Rome arose still to the west, in territory unoccupied by Grecia. Rome was divided into ten kingdoms; but though Rome conquered the world, we look for these divisions only to that territory which had never been included in other kingdoms. We look not to Eastern Europe; for that was included in the dominion of the third beast: nor to Asia; for that constituted the empires of the first and second beasts: but to Western Europe, which territory was unoccupied till taken by Rome and its divisions. The ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman empire are enumerated as follows by Machiavel, endorsed by Bp. Newton, Faber, and Dr. Hales: 1. The Huns. 2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The Visigoths. 4. The Franks. 5. The Vandals. 6. The Suevi. 7. The Burgundians. 8. The Heruli. 9. The Anglo-Saxons, and 10. The Lombards. These kingdoms have since been known, says Scott, as “the ten kingdoms of the western empire,” and they are distinguishable at the present day, some of them even by their modern names, as Hungary from the Huns, Lombardy from the Lombards, France from the Franks, and England from the Anglo-Saxons. These ten kingdoms being denoted by the ten horns of the leopard beast, it is evident that all the territory included in these ten kingdoms is to be considered as belonging to that beast. England is one of these ten kingdoms, France is another. If therefore we say that either of these is the one represented by the two-horned beast, we make one of the horns of the leopard beast constitute the two-horned beast. But this the prophecy forbids; for while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, with his horns all complete and distinct, he beholds the two-horned beast coming up, and calls it “another beast.” We are therefore to look for the government which this beast symbolizes, in some country outside the territory occupied by the four beasts and the ten horns already referred to. But these, as we have seen, cover all the available portions of the eastern continent. Another consideration pointing to the locality of this power is drawn from the fact that John saw it arising from the earth. If the sea from which the leopard beast arose, Rev. 13: 1, denotes peoples, nations and multitudes, Rev. 17: 15, the earth would suggest, by contrast, a new and previously-unoccupied territory. Being thus excluded from the eastern continent, and impressed with the idea of looking to territory not previously known to civilization, we turn of necessity to the western hemisphere. And this is in full harmony with the ideas already quoted, and more which might be presented, that the progress of empires is with the sun around the earth from east to west. Commencing in Asia, the cradle of the race, it would end on this continent, which completes the circuit. Bishop Berkley, in his celebrated poem on America, written more than one hundred years ago, in the following forcible lines, pointed out the then future position of America, and its connection with preceding empires: “Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time’s noblest offspring is the last.” By the “four first acts already past,” the bishop had undoubted reference to the four universal kingdoms of Daniel’s prophecy. A fifth great power, the noblest and the last, was, according to his poem, to arise this side the Atlantic, and here close the drama of time, as the day here ends its circuit. To what part of the American continent shall we look for the power in question? To the most powerful and prominent nation certainly. This is so self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review the frozen remnants of humanity on the north of us, nor the weak, superstitious, semi-barbarous, revolutionary and uninfluential kingdoms to the south of us. No; we come to the United States and here we are held. To this nation the question of the location of the two-horned beast undeviatingly leads us. As an objection to this view, it may occur to some minds that the two-horned beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him (Greek ἐνώπιον, literally before his eyes) and does wonders in his sight; and how can the United States, separated by an ocean from European kingdoms, hold such an intimate relation to them? We answer, Space and time are annihilated by the telegraph. Through the Atlantic cable, (an enterprise which owes its origin to the United States) the lightnings are continually picturing to European beholders the affairs of America. Any important event occurring here is described the next hour in the journals of Europe. So far as the transmission of an account of our doings to the people of the old world is concerned, it is as if America lay at the mouth of the English channel. And the eyes of all Europe are intently watching our movements. Says Mr. Townsend (New World and Old, p. 583), “All the great peoples of Europe are curiously interested and amazed in the rise of America; and their rulers at present compete for our friendship. ‘Europe,’ said the prince Talleyrand, long ago, ‘must have an eye on America, and take care not to offer any pretext for recrimination or retaliation. America is growing every day. She will become a colossal power, and the time will come when (discoveries enabling her to communicate more easily with Europe) she will want to say a word in our affairs, and have a hand in them.’” The time has come, and the discoveries have been made, to which Talleyrand referred. It is almost as easy now to communicate with Europe as with our nearest town. By these things the attention of the world is drawn still more strongly toward us; and thus whatever the United States does, it is done in the sight, yes, even as the prophet expresses it, before the eyes, of all Europe. U. S. A Safe Bank.
By R. F. Cottrell
I would recommend to that brother or sister who has a little surplus means to lay aside against a “rainy day,” to put it where it will be safest and pay the best interest. That which is invested heartily in the cause of God will pay the highest interest, and is so much laid up in the bank of Heaven, where thieves do not break through and steal. We have but a little time to do in the cause of God. The stock-books will be open but a little while longer. Our opportunities are fast passing, and the time that our money can be at interest is fast diminishing. Soon the dividend is to be made. Eternal benefits will be secured or lost. Hence, now is the time to do. The increasing work of God calls for increasing means. Those who have confidence in the cause of the third angel's message as the work of God, will be ready to show their faith by their works. The Health Institute is an important auxiliary in the work of God. It needs help. It is established as a benevolent institution. Who will take shares here? One share is twenty-five dollars. Here is a good chance to invest. God has spoken of the health reform and the Institute as part of his work; and his word will not157 fall. Those who acknowledge the hand of the Lord in the work in which we have engaged, will not fear to venture on his word. This work is from Heaven or of men. If from Heaven, it is safe to embrace it fully. Prophecy demands this work. The signs of the times demand it now; and it is being done. It is from Heaven, and not of men. Who will have a share in the work? Now is the time. Mormon Evidence for Sunday-Keeping.
IN No. 13, present volume of REVIEW, in the article entitled, “Found at Last,” Bro. Canright spoke of the claim put forth by a Mormon elder that in 1831, Joseph Smith had a revelation that Sunday should be regarded as a holy day. We have since received letters from two Mormons denying that any such revelation was ever given. We referred the matter to Bro. Canright, who returns the following response:— “I know little, and care less, about what revelation Joe Smith has given about the Sunday Sabbath. I simply stated what a Mormon preacher publicly said before a hundred persons in Leon, Iowa, while we were there. Eld. Butler, Eld. Kilgore, and scores of others, heard the statement. If he told a falsehood to meet the emergency of the time, those who deny his statement must settle that with him. I care nothing about it one way or the other, only so far as I stated the fact that he said so. This I can easily prove.” U. S.